144 THE AMERICAN MONTHLY [May 



done a great deal of work on the physiological characters 

 of Alpine plants states that Germander plants exposed 

 to alternation of temperature could be compared to those 

 produced in high mountain regions. The plants were 

 more rapidly developed. The leaves were smaller and 

 much thicker with a greater development of palisade tis- 

 sue. These plants frequently produced anthocyanin which 

 is frequently produced in Alpine plants. 



Haustoria of Erysiphejs. — Grant Smith (Bot. Gazette 

 29 : 153) gives an account of the haustoria of Erysipheae 

 which have been studied but little. He used four fixing 

 solutions. Flemmings fluid proved most satisfactory, 

 where it blackened the tissues, the sections after having 

 been attached to the slides, were bleached for twenty-four 

 hours in hydrogen peroxide before staining. The absorb- 

 ing organ of Erysiphe communis consists of a slender 

 proximal portion the neck which penetrates the epidermal 

 wall of the cell, within which it enlarges into a vesicular 

 distal portion with a thin wall. The vesicle on the inter- 

 ior is filled with a delicate spongy protoplasm. The ma- 

 ture haustorium always contains a nucleus, occasionally 

 the haustorium may have two nuclei. The branched haus- 

 toria of Erysiphe graminis has a large nucleus. 



The form of the absorbing organ in this case is the result 

 of a special effort of the species to obtain food. Phyllac- 

 tinia suffulta has intercellular hyphae which in most of the 

 hosts studied takes a more or less direct course to the re- 

 gions near the bundles, where food is abundant, which in- 

 dicates a selective chemotropism in the fungus. 



Wanted. — Microscopic preparations illustrating- the his- 

 tology of petals and sepals. Would like to get a full set for 

 John H. Lowell, Waldoboro, Maine. 



Wanted. — Earth containg diatoms from Redondo Beach 

 for a European subscriber who offers cash, or, in exchange, 

 Hungarian diatomaceous material from St. Peter. C. W. S. 



